Virginia Tech cornerback Antone Exum was hoping to be back for the Hokies season-opener against Alabama. That's not in the cards anymore, according to Andy Bitter of The Roanoke Times.

Exum suffered a torn ACL, torn lateral and medial meniscus and broke a bone in his right knee in a pickup basketball game in January. His six-month visit to Dr. James Andrews, who performed the surgery on Feb. 5, didn't go as planned.

Instead of coming back for the first game of the season, Exum's more realistic target is the start of ACC play Sept. 26 when Virginia Tech travels to Georgia Tech. However, there still are no promises he will be ready to go in Atlanta.

“A typical ACL can be 6-8 months,” Goforth said. “What he had can sometimes be 8-12 months. And he doesn’t want to believe that. That’s typical Antone. But that just leads to his motivation and toughness. … We’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Returning on Aug. 31 against the Crimson Tide would have been on the quick side of his rehab. Goforth said he thought the rehab process would take much longer than the minimum because of all the different injuries.

“But I didn’t want to tell him that, for multiple reasons,” he said. “The kid is so focused on playing. I mean, he’s as focused as anyone we’ve ever had rehabbing. He comes in, he gets his work done, he doesn’t say a word. … But with the ACL, the bone bruise that he had and the microfracture procedure, that’s a lot right there. Plus a cartilage repair. I was thinking and 8 to 9 to 10-month deal.”

Virginia Tech will rely on redshirt freshman Donaldven Manning and freshman Brandon Facyson to fill in while Exum is sidelined.

Exum led the Hokies with five interceptions last season while leading the ACC with 16 pass breakups. He was named to second-team All-ACC after the 2012 season.